Matthew Klam, author of the short story collection, Sam the Cat and Other Stories, did what every aspiring new writer hopes to do — he published every single one of his stories in The New Yorker before he even had a book. In 1999, Klam was named one of the Twenty Best Writers Under Forty by The New Yorker. Raised in New York, Klam left the Empire State to study philosophy at the University of New Hampshire. Klam held a few odd jobs after graduation, including writing for a doctor's magazine and teaching English in Japan before enrolling in the M.F.A. program at Hollins College.

Since publishing Sam the Cat, Klam has been working on a novel that stems from the last story in his collection, European Wedding. When he's not working on his first novel, Klam writes essays for Harper's and The New York Times Magazine. Klam lives with his wife in Washington D.C. This interview took place on Valentine's Day 2001.

Colleen Curran: What's the main difference between a short story and a novel?

Matthew Klam: Short stories are like looking through a keyhole. A novel is a 360-degree panoramic window. It's hard to keep the novel small. I think, now, when someone says that a novel is a "tour de force" it really means there's too much crap in there. It's hard to keep the novel small. Zadie Smith's White Teeth is right on the edge of too much stuff. But I liked the novel.

CC: What is your writing method?

MK: I build up a head of steam before I start writing. I take a lot of notes. I sift through the notes and it's obvious that some are talking about the same thing. But it's new, every time. Writing the novel is much worse. Totally overwhelming.

CC: Most of the stories from Sam the Cat are written from a young male first person point of view. How about the novel?

MK: It's in third person right now. I might switch. My third person voice is not really third person anyway.

CC: Do you have a deadline to finish the novel?

MK: No deadlines. I had offers, but I didn't want to show it until it's done.

CC: A lot of the stories in Sam the Cat are focused on relationships between men and the women they love. On this last read I was really struck by how women and money keep cropping up over and over again as totemic images for your narrators. Is there a connection between women and money?

MK: Both are markers of a person's progress in life. If you're in a high-functioning relationship with someone you admire then it's like being successful in your work in a way. It's a sign of success in your life.

CC: You write about your narrator's love/hate relationships with women. But the male narrators in your stories also have problems with their male friends -- there seems to be a love/hate relationship there as well. How do you view male/male relationships? Why do you write about them?

MK: I think there is so much more out there that's more interesting to write about than someone getting hold of a nuclear bomb and pointing it at the U.S. Men compensate for their angry nature with other men. It's very complex. I've just learned how to be comfortable with other guys and enjoy them in the way I did in 5th grade. It's hard to trust men because they're untrustworthy. Men feel desperate about themselves, about their relationships with men, because they want to succeed, they want life to look different. It's all about forms of prowess, about a man's facility within his own society. His physical, psychological strength. Demonstrations of power. It's devastating, when men have problems with authority figures, they're always seeking ways to play that out, to demonstrate their position.